The present invention generally relates to novel child-resistant blister packages or pouches for medicaments and non-medicaments.
It is desirable for manufacturers of products to provide packaging for their products which is highly resistant to opening by children, but which, at the same time is relatively easy for elderly and physically impaired persons to open. It is also desirable to provide tamper-evident packages which indicate when a child has attempted to open the package.
One of the problems facing parents today is their responsibility of keeping medications and other dangerous and/or small articles beyond the reach of their young children. Young children do not have the ability to recognize the risk involved in consuming prescribed or over-the-counter medication and other dangerous and/or small articles. Because of this fact, there is an important need for a package from which these items are readily accessible to an adult but are not accessible to a young child.
In past years, a trend in the packaging of medication and other dangerous and/or small articles has been to provide packages which will be safe, even if found by young children. Most developments in the "child-proofing" line have been directed to the improvement in pill bottles. In this regard, safety caps have been devised which require a certain series of pushes and turns in order to open the bottle. However, there has been less development in the area of "childproofed" blister packages or pouches with which this invention is concerned.
Blister or pouch packaging has become popular in recent years, not only for medicaments in capsule, lozenge or pill form, but also for small automotive parts, household articles, and miscellaneous hardware.
Blister packages are generally made up of a first sheet, typically a clear, preformed polyvinyl chloride or polystyrene with flexible bubbles which form separate compartments for one or more pills, and a second rupturable sheet material, such as an aluminum foil or paper sheet, which has been attached to the first sheet. The second sheet is attached to the first sheet by heat-sealing, solvent welding, gluing, or otherwise. The articles contained in the package may be removed from the blister compartment by pressing on the flexible blister which, in turn, forces the tablet against the second sheet, rupturing the second sheet, and ejecting the article.
Pouch-type packages generally include a pair of laminated layers which are heat-sealed around the edges but which are unsealed in a central area which provides a pouch for a pill or other item. If the blister package or pouch contains medicine or any item which should be kept away from young children, it is important to "child proof" such packages by rendering these packages too difficult to open by children too young to realize the potential hazard in doing so. At the same time, the package should be user friendly for adult users of the various articles contained in the packages.
The child-resistant blister packages and pouches of the invention for medicaments and non-medicaments are structurally different from child-resistant packaging described in the art.